Punjab CM Barnala pulls off major victory, given authority to select next SGPC president

There can hardly be a more powerful political line-up in Punjab than former chief minister Prakash Singh Badal, Speaker Ravi Inder Singh, Akali Dal Parliamentary Board President Ajit Singh and Agriculture Minister Amrinder Singh of the former princely house of Patiala.

Yet, when all four political heavyweights got together last fortnight to block Gurcharan Singh Tohra's election for the 14th consecutive year as president of the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), and then to go a step further and try and oust Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala from the presidency of the Akali Dal itself, they quickly came a cropper.

They didn't know their hapless fate, however, until late last fortnight, when the district jathedars and the parliamentary board met in a joint session in Chandigarh's sprawling Punjab Bhavan, under the tight guard of the police and paramilitary forces. The meeting had been called after Ajit Singh (who had helped block Tohra's re-election at a meeting of the parliamentary board) put together a list of 40 Akali delegates demanding a delegate session of the party's General House, to elect a new president on December 10.

The outcome of the crucial joint session was evident as soon as Ajit Singh emerged, to be greeted by Akali workers shouting slogans against him. Inside the meeting hall, Barnala had pulled off a major victory in the latest of the never-ending series of skirmishes that characterises Akali politics. He was given the authority to select the next SGPC president (who will in all likelihood be Tohra again), as well as the SGPC executive, and also to decide on the date for a delegate session after verifying the signatures on Ajit Singh's list.

The signatures became a key issue, and an embarrassing one for Ajit Singh, when three people whose names were on it claimed that their signatures had been forged. One was Sher Singh, a cousin of the late Harchand Singh Longowal, the second Surinder Singh Dhuri, MLA, and the third Madho Singh, ex-MLA. The first two declared in a joint statement that "in this hour of great crisis, Barnala should be extended full support, and any move to the contrary is subversive of the vital interest of the panth and the state".

Barnala, a political lightweight who emerged in the forefront of Akali politics only with the signing of the Rajiv-Longowal accord last July, and who had said before the crucial joint session that "their (Badal et al) motive is to take my seat", thus managed to consolidate his position as both chief minister and party president. After the joint session, he declared that "we do not run away from the delegate session", but added that the move to call one was "untimely since other major issues are on our hands". There was at the end little doubt that the erstwhile lightweight had managed, with the help of his chief lieutenant, Finance Minister Balwant Singh, to outwit and out man oeuvre a formidable phalanx of Akali politicians.

In fact, Badal sensed the mood of the house early enough during the joint session and kept a low profile. Ajit Singh, 'Amrinder Singh and Sucha Singh Chhotepur, a Gurdaspur, district jathedar, mounted a feeble attack. But there was no denying the will of the majority; and outside, the slogan shouters against Ajit Singh even charged him with being a Congress(I) agent.

This latest cracker burst in the Akali Dal and the SGPC was initially sparked off by Ravi Inder Singh, who was keen to replace Tohra in the SGPC with either Ajit Singh or Harcharan Singh Mahlon, head priest of the important takht of gurudwara Keshgarh Sahib at Anandpur. He won some early support because a large section of the Akalis hold Tohra responsible for some of the events in the Golden Temple in the last three years. Ajit Singh said: "We hold him (Tohra) equally guilty of turning the holy shrine into a fortress." Barnala is no great friend of Tohra's, for among other things Tohra had held back from the Rajiv-Longowal accord for as long as he could, and continued to sulk later.

And he said he went to the meeting of the parliamentary board "with an open mind, to assess the different names and then, through a consensus, to decide about the most acceptable one. But our friends unleashed an attack on each one of us". The most significant development at this stage (from the Akali faction-fighting point of view) was the alignment that Badal had worked out with the others on the Tohra issue, and Barnala clearly smelt danger.

The SGPC meeting: Stormy session

Supporters of the chief minister even allege that the Congress(I) was behind the Badal move against Tohra, and charge that Union minister of state K. Natwar Singh had gone to Badal's village in Faridkot to chalk out a strategy. Natwar Singh is related by marriage to Amrinder Singh, who was aligned with Badal and who had been in the Congress(I) till Operation Bluestar.

Badal dismisses this scenario as nothing more than an attempt to defame him. Nevertheless, he was in New Delhi few days later to meet Congress(I) leaders like Arun Nehru. Meanwhile, Balwant Singh alleged that "there are some elements in the Congress(I) and the bureaucracy at the Centre who want to keep Punjab in turmoil."

If coincidences in politics mean anything, it was significant that around the time when Badal was making his move against Tohra, some of his former supporters like Parkash Singh Majithia left Baba Joginder Singh's United Akali Dal and immediately declared themselves members of the Akali Dal. But Badal himself reacted negatively to this development and, fearing that a move might be on to try and destabilise the Government, denied that the defectors were a member of the Akali Dal.

Apart from Barnala, the man who emerged triumphant last fortnight was Tohra, who at 70 remains a wily politician able to side step his detractors. A few days before the SGPC election was due at the end of November, Tohra had emerged as perhaps the only likely choice for the SGPC presidentship. Indeed, the multi-flank attack that Badal, Ravi Inder Singh and the others mounted on both Tohra and Barnala left the chief minister with little option other than to support Tohra, and indicated that Badal's group had opened up battle on too many fronts simultaneously.

Indeed, if Barnala had not felt that his own position was endangered, he and Balwant Singh would probably have tried to replace Tohra as the head of the SGPC. Barnala said about the parliamentary board meeting where Tohra's candidature was blocked: "We had no particular person in mind, and certainly not Tohra. We were keen to work for unanimity. But these our friends were in great haste."

Tohra, meanwhile, played his cards with his usual care. He kept a safety hatch open by declaring that he did not want to contest, and said: "Although I was not keen to lead the SGPC, I never run away from a challenge. My opponents always make me the president." He added that "I will never be a candidate if the Akali Dal does not want me to be one."

Tohra had the additional advantage in the unquestioning support of two dozen Akali MLA's. Said Health Minister Basant Singh Khalsa: "You can cut us into pieces, but we cannot be anything other than his supporters." Added Major Singh Uboke, revenue minister: "We are always at his beck and call." Naturally, neither Barnala nor Balwant Singh could ignore such a powerful support base. In addition, there are two resolutions of the SGPC executive, passed in March and May this year, requesting him to continue to head the SGPC "as there is no other able guide for the Sikhs".

For Barnala, meanwhile, other challenges and problems wait. On the one hand, he still has to expand his Cabinet and appoint people to head 35 government-run corporations and boards. The more serious headache is presented by the possibility that the Mathew Commission might decide to award parts of Abohar and Fazilka to Haryana in lieu of Chandigarh's transfer to Punjab. Some of the commission's observations (for instance, that Mrs Gandhi wanted these areas to go to Haryana) have caused misgivings in Punjab, and Balwant Singh warned that "if the Rajiv-Longowal accord is bypassed by the Mathew Commission, it will result in instability in the state and grievously hurt the national interest."

Indeed, when Balwant Singh heard that the commission might try to physically verify the language spoken in Fazilka and Abohar, he rushed to Delhi. And Akali Dal General Secretary Manjit Singh Khera warned that "head counting could easily become head hunting".

Punjab has so far offered only 13 villages, arguing that already 55 per cent of Chandigarh, comprising Manimajra township and some villages, stands awarded to Haryana. And Barnala served notice of his resignation by declaring to India Today that "I have made very clear to the prime minister, whom we hold in great esteem, that if Abohar and Fazilka are handed over to Haryana I shall not be in a position to lead the Government. The Akalis will have to quit as they cannot face the people. This was the very basis of our agitation three years back...Rajiv must get the accord fully implemented."

Balwant Singh added his voice to this protest by saying: "No commission has ever conducted physical verification. Once you accept the principle of a referendum, you open the floodgates to such demands everywhere else in the country." And Tohra warned ominously that "this will once again stoke the fires of communalism."

A potentially dangerous conflict was clearly building up on this score. For Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, after declaring that "some villages here or there do not matter: after all, Punjab is not Pakistan," said last fortnight at Faridabad that he would accept "nothing other than Abohar and Fazilka, if Chandigarh is given to Punjab."

As the tension on this score mounted, Barnala dashed to Delhi for his third trip in a fortnight, to urge Rajiv Gandhi to recognise the political reality: "Both sides must stick to the accord and implement it in letter and spirit. We should not be allowed to be pushed back to square one," he said.

Even as the storm-clouds gathered over Punjab yet again, Barnala insisted, however, that he was a total optimist, and that he was confident the prime minister would assert himself and hand out justice. The key question, of course, was whether Haryana would choose to call such justice by some other name.

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